Botanical Fiction

Works in which sci-fi/horror themes are inspired by that significant branch of biology that focuses on the plant kingdom, namely, botany. The "Plant Kingdom" is currently defined as autotrophic organisms made up of eukaryotic cells whose cellulose-based walls and ability to store starch as an energy reserve are considered prerequisites to planthood (actually, there are those who also try to include various autotrophic unicellular organisms - provided they're eucaryotes - such as green algae). Historically, however, the plant kingdom encompassed all non-animal lifeforms. It's precisely that broader, somewhat old-fashioned meaning of "plant" that this Tag harks back to, assembling a series of films featuring protagonists from the broad ranks of fungi in addition to the killer trees, mutant ferns and similar chlorophyll-based monstrosities. After all, genre movies certainly went wild over the years, dreaming up all sorts of horrific fungi, disgusting molds, improbable lichens, and other symbionts.

On the sci-fi front, such films fall into two main camps: On one hand we have undesirable encounters with pseudo-flora of extraterrestrial origin (we're usually in sci-fi invasion territory here), and on the other hand, certain common Earth organisms become a menace to humanity after undergoing an aberrant transformation (a fairly common scenario in ecological/environmental subgenres). Less frequently, the discovery of a new plant species in some lost corner of the world leads to peril. On the supernatural horror side, we're more likely to encounter leafy incarnations of woodland spirits, fearsome sylvan druids, dynamic and highly aggressive trees.